Biochemistry

[ste_noni]

I know nothing about biochemistry but my BIL with the PhD always made it sound very interesting. He used to tell me stories of germ-fighting T cells roaming the body. looking to rid their world of invading viruses and so on. A T cell would encounter a virus and sound the alarm, sending thousands of other agents to swarm the invaders. It all sounded very cool.

Anyway, here's what I really wanted to post.

First, I had my 6 week follow-up with my midwife yesterday. Everything is fine, or at least normal. One interesting thing she told me is that while I am exclusively breastfeeding, my estrogen levels are at "rock bottom". I suspect this explains my menopause like symptoms (hot flashes and other less pleasant things). Not a big deal, but interesting from a "how your body works" perspective.

I also got the "back to birth control" information yesterday. It's sort of interesting because we haven't used any birth control in forever. I was off the pill for a total of 3 years before Ellie was conceived. Needing birth control sort of amuses me, given that I will have spent over a year without sex. Joe won't be back until October at the earliest. We *do* want to have more children and don't want to wait *too* long, because neither of us is getting any younger, but I'm not sure how close together. Anyway, I'd be curious about the experiences of anyone on my flist in a similar situation. What did you do for post-baby birth control? How far apart did (or do) you want your children? If breastfeeding, how long before you were ovulating again?

Comments

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

I considered the mini-pill but went with condoms. Condoms had been our primary means of birth control before conceiving Casper. While Casper's conception was unplanned, it was not due to failure on the part of the birth control, but rather failure on the part of the users, and I think we had a pretty good track record and knew what we were risking.

I breastfed exclusively until about 5 months, and heavily (inlcuding pumping at work and several middle of the night feedings) until 13 months. I got my period back when Casper was 16 months old. My understanding is return of fetility varies a lot, and can come back much earlier if you give up night feedings. Also, of course, you can get pregnant without having had a period yet.

I want my children spaced about 3 years, to have a small child rather than a baby before the next baby comes along. This may be colored by the fact that my siblings and I are spaced 3 years apart.

My workplace is full of people with BarBri manuals! I think of you.

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

One week from 5 pm tonight I WILL BE DONE!!!!!! (I keep trying to focus what I need to do before then, but it's getting harder)

My midwife gave me a prescription for the pill, but I don't want to go back to that. I've never had problems with it, but it seems like a pain. Plus, I guess I'm just not that worried about it. After 2 years of trying, an accidental pregnancy sounds like fun (the *not having to try* part, I mean).

Anyway, thanks for the info.

[sarameg.livejournal.com]

Babyfeet!

Can't speak to the other, but the first paragraph? I know what you mean. My brother is working on a phd in the neurosciences and I love it when he starts explaining his research or some random weird immune system thing (he's currently working with cancers.) Of course, he can now explain my pms to me, which is WEIRD, but....

[ste-noni.livejournal.com]

My BIL worked on HIV/AIDS so all his stories were about secret agent HIV cells fighting T cells and so on. He made science so interesting.